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Psalm 137

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and weptwhen we remembered Zion.2 There on the poplarswe hung our harps,3 for there our captors asked us for songs,our tormentors demanded songs of joy;they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How can we sing the songs of the Lordwhile in a foreign land?5 If I forget you, Jerusalem,may my right hand forget its skill.6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouthif I do not remember you,if I do not consider Jerusalemmy highest joy.

7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites didon the day Jerusalem fell.“Tear it down,” they cried,“tear it down to its foundations!”8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,happy is the one who repays youaccording to what you have done to us.9 Happy is the one who seizes your infantsand dashes them against the rocks.

Psalm 138

Of David.

1 I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;before the “gods” I will sing your praise.2 I will bow down toward your holy templeand will praise your namefor your unfailing love and your faithfulness,for you have so exalted your solemn decreethat it surpasses your fame.3 When I called, you answered me;you greatly emboldened me.

4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, Lord,when they hear what you have decreed.5 May they sing of the ways of the Lord,for the glory of the Lord is great.

6 Though the Lord is exalted, he looks kindly on the lowly;though lofty, he sees them from afar.7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,you preserve my life.You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes;with your right hand you save me.8 The Lord will vindicate me;your love, Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.

Psalm 139

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 You have searched me,Lord,and you know me.2 You know when I sit and when I rise;you perceive my thoughts from afar.3 You discern my going out and my lying down;you are familiar with all my ways.4 Before a word is on my tongueyou, Lord, know it completely.5 You hem me in behind and before,and you lay your hand upon me.6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?Where can I flee from your presence?8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,if I settle on the far side of the sea,10 even there your hand will guide me,your right hand will hold me fast.11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide meand the light become night around me,”12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;the night will shine like the day,for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb.14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;your works are wonderful,I know that full well.15 My frame was not hidden from youwhen I was made in the secret place,when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;all the days ordained for me were written in your bookbefore one of them came to be.17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!How vast is the sum of them!18 Were I to count them,they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!20 They speak of you with evil intent;your adversaries misuse your name.21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?22 I have nothing but hatred for them;I count them my enemies.23 Search me, God, and know my heart;test me and know my anxious thoughts.24 See if there is any offensive way in me,and lead me in the way everlasting.

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.